Eyes of Nostradamus
by NewUserNamesAreHard
Summary: Being a seer only helps if you pay attention to your visions. Kaito was really regretting ignoring his. (Sort of AU. Written for the Poirot Cafe 5k themed writing contest #36. Wolves.)


**Disclaimer: In case there was any doubt, I don't own DC/MK or any of their characters.**

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 **Eyes of Nostradamus**

 **Summary:** Being a seer only helps if you pay attention to your visions. Kaito was really regretting ignoring his. (Sort of AU)

 **Warnings:** Be aware this story contains violence, death, and betrayal. Also not KaiShin.

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He had seen it before. This place. This scene. In flashes of visions that sparked behind his eyelids at the most inconvenient of times. Kaito hadn't put much stock them. He hadn't known. He should have.

 _Two sets of headlights met in the middle of an alley. One car was black, melting into the darkness between the buildings. The other car was yellow, a cheery color reduced to a muted mustard in the night._

 _Leaning against the hood of the yellow car was Conan. Only he wasn't Conan. He was a teenager with those same piercing eyes and a smirk sharp enough to use as a straight-razor. "Gin." The teen said casually as if addressing someone._

 _"Detective." Another voice spat back._

Kaito's eyes fluttered as he tried to hang on to the vision. He struggled to keep watching. Because whatever he was 'seeing' had happened. And now the alley was decorated with bullet holes and blood.

 _Silver. But not metallic silver. The kind of silver that had just a hint too much gloss to be called grey. It shifted like it was alive, whispering as it slid across the rough black material that served as its backdrop. Hair, Kaito decided, as he focused on individual strands for the first time._

 _There was a whimpering noise added in as the liquid silver pooled on the asphalt and a black men's dress shoe appeared in Kaito's view. It was nice, clearly cared for, but the sole was worn. "I should've just shot you in the head." There was no inflection in the voice. The man might as well have been ordering fast food._

 _"Yeah. You probably should have." It was Conan's voice. No, not Conan. Teenage Conan. Fearless, just like Kaito would have expected. "But I guess it's too late now."_

 _"What makes you say that?" A new voice, deeper than the others._

 _"If he were going to shoot me he would have done it already." Teenage Conan paused for moment. Then..._

The vision was gone again, but this time Kaito could make out the last of the teens words. "So _why_ aren't you going to shoot me?"

A growl escaped Kaito's throat. He had been having visions for years. According to the therapist he'd visited once, they were stress related hallucinations. Kaito had even believed him for a while. After all, they had started the day after his father had died, was murdered. But then the magician started to recognize people and places he had never seen before. At least not with his physical eyes.

He had always wondered what he could have done differently when he saw a new obituary in the paper with a face he had 'seen' in a vision two days prior. But that had stopped when he met Edogawa Conan. The faces Kaito would 'see' started showing up in the earlier pages of the newspaper under headlines like 'Meitantei Mori rescues kidnaped boy'. It helped Kaito piece something together: his visions were of preventable deaths.

He should have taken that to heart. Worked to find the people in his visions. Gone out of his way to save them. But he hadn't, because he hadn't needed to. Conan -because everyone knew it was Conan, even if most of the police force was in denial- always saved the day. Conan always turned the tragedies that cluttered Kaito's mind into happy endings.

Kaito never had to help. He only had to endure the visions. That was what he had thought. Only he was wrong. And now Conan was gone. Missing. Taken.

When it happened, Kaito had been stealing a sapphire across town, scanning the crowd for the tiny detective as he performed magic tricks for his adoring fans. Now however, the part time phantom thief was hovering at the edges of a crime scene, looking for teenage Conan and the men in black, hoping desperately that his visions were wrong.

The warped metal frame of the once yellow car scared him. He had 'seen' it burning, flames licking up the sides as the teen lay unconscious on the ground. But that had been later.

 _"I knew you'd agree." The sneer was audible. "You can't help but sacrifice yourself for others." The man made it sound like a character flaw._

 _Teenage Conan's eyes narrowed as he righted himself and took a step forward. His hands slipped into his pockets as he shrugged. "Should we both start walking at the same time?"_

 _The next voice belonged to a girl hidden from Kaito's view. A young girl. Kaito had met her twice. Both times in disguise when he was checking up on Conan and his gang of wannabe detective trouble makers. "No, Kudo. Don't!"_

"Kudo..." Kaito muttered under his breath. The name tasted familiar, like it had flowed off his tongue before.

"Yeah," Another police officer, a _real_ police officer standing next to Kaito agreed, "Kudo-kun would have already solved this, but we'll be lucky if we solve it at all. It obvious that something big happened here, but all the evidence went up in flames."

"Hey, what was Kudo-kun's given name again?"

The officer looked at Kaito like he was an idiot. "I know he's been out of the spotlight recently, but the kid still helps out from time to time. You should really remember the names of people with titles like 'The Great Detective of the East'."

Realization hit Kaito a moment before the next vision drug him away from reality again. Kudo Shinichi. Conan's cousin. The one that had been missing for nearly two years.

 _The click of the handcuffs tightening made Kaito twitch. They wrapped around slender wrists as teenage Conan, no, Shinichi, walked towards the two men in black. They had been all but invisible before, standing outside the range of the cars' headlights. One of them kneeled next to a wide eyed girl, his arm slung across her tiny shoulders. The other stood behind them both, his eyes hidden behind sunglasses even in the dark of night._

 _"Go." The kneeling man commanded the girl in his grip. The honey blonde didn't move for a moment, looking between Shinichi and the men in black. "Or don't. Mori Ran can take your place."_

 _Shinichi stopped breathing. Seconds ticked by as the teen stood frozen in place before a shaky breath left him and his lips pressed together in a flat line. He radiated displeasure._

 _"I'm a little disappointed you caught on so quickly." The kneeling man taunted. It was clearly a lie though. There was the slightest shift in his shoulders that gave him away._

 _The other man didn't react. He either didn't understand or hadn't been worried about Shinichi's reaction in the first place. He must not have seen it, the split second when Shinichi's eyes had darkened. The split second the detective took to consider his chances of incapacitating the two men in black without risking the life of the girl._

Kaito's head was starting to hurt. Normally the visions came spaced out throughout the day, but today he had called them to the surface through force of will alone. He would start making time to practice, to experiment, to gain an understanding of how his visions worked, as soon as he found Conan. No, not just Conan. Shinichi too. But where _was_ Conan? Kaito had 'seen' him lying bound and gagged in the back seat of a car as the silver haired man looked over his shoulder from the driver's seat. It was the last vision Kaito had had the night before. But so far Conan hadn't appeared in any of Kaito's other visions.

 _Shinichi was on his knees, his hands hooked behind his head as the honey blonde girl walked past him. "I'm sorry, Meitantei." She half whispered._

 _"Don't worry, Haibara, everything will be fine." Shinichi sounded confident for a man in his position. "Go home. And make up an excuse for why I won't be coming back."_

 _The girls eyes widened, moisture collecting in the corners. "Conan-kun went back to America late last night. Shinichi-oniisan went with him since it was an emergency."_ _Shinichi gave the barest of nods as the girl looked back over her shoulder._

 _The tension in the detective's body slowly eased as the sound of her footsteps tapered off. She had long since walked out of the glow of the headlights and into the darkness._

 _"Aniki?" The deep voice questioned as the standing man looked down at his companion._

 _The kneeling man locked his gaze with Shinichi's. "You trust that we let her go." It was a statement not a question._

 _"You need me alive."_

 _"And if we go back on our word you'll kill yourself?"_

 _"If I have to."_

 _The answering grin that appeared on the man's face as he stood was frightening. Silver hair, almost gold in the yellow light of the headlights fell over his shoulder. "But you'll keep your word won't you."_

The visions were getting longer, improving in detail, but Kaito was becoming too suspicious as he spaced out for minutes at a time. "Are you alright?" His new officer buddy asked.

"Fine. I'm fine. I just need to sit down for a minute."

"Then do it on the other side of the police tape. We can't have you falling into the evidence we have left." The officer chided as he patted Kaito's shoulder.

"Yeah. Sure thing." Kaito replied as he headed back out of the alley. He could always come back later… Or another vision could knock him off his feet after only a few steps. This one was vivid. And new. And in the first person.

 _Kaito felt a hand in his hair a moment before the grip tightened and his head was pulled back. The chain of the handcuffs bit into the back of his neck as his back arched to lessen the strain. He wasn't at the other man's mercy, not really. He could have fought back. Kaito wanted to fight back. But he was just a passenger along for the ride._

 _Shinichi didn't resist at all, allowing the silver haired man to pull him to his feet. "Vodka, get the restraints." The man commanded as he held Shinichi in place with one hand. His eyes were cold._

 _The first handcuff clicked open but Shinichi didn't move, letting it fall from his wrist without so much as blinking. The other cuff followed suit, clattering to the ground behind Shinichi's back as the lock released. Then the second man was in front of him. "Put your arms out straight."_

 _Trapped in Shinichi's head, Kaito balked. Handcuffs were one thing, but a straightjacket was something else entirely. Kaito couldn't get enough air. But Shinichi refused to take deeper breathes, acting as if it were perfectly okay to have his arms slid into the overly long sleeves of the jacket. He cooperated with the duo in black even as they buckled the back closed and fed his arms through a strap of leather sewn to the front. Even when they buckled the sleeves securely around his back Shinichi didn't struggle._

 _Then the silver haired man pulled Shinichi's head back again. "Seem familiar?" He questioned as he forced something into Shinichi's mouth._

 _The detective panicked, his heart hammering as he tried to pull out of the man's grip. He fought to stay awake a little longer. Only awake wasn't the right word. Alive. Shinichi fought to stay alive. Desperately._

Kaito's breathing was ragged as he came back to himself. His new police officer friend was hovering over him with a concerned expression. "You really don't look good. Where is your patrol car? I'll get you settled and get your partner to take you to the hospital."

"I don't remember." Kaito lied. It really wasn't a very good lie. No officer worth his badge would buy it, but the magician was shaken. He had been shot at from time to time, jumped off a sky scraper with a hang glider that broke mid-flight, and intentionally provoked his best friend into trying to take his head off with a mop. But he had never felt closer to death than the moment he felt a pill slide down Shinichi's throat. The detective had known beyond a shadow of doubt that his death was in that pill.

Kaito staggered to his feet. First person visions had always been the worst, but this was the first time Kaito had felt someone die. He needed to eat a carton of ice cream while he drank hot chocolate at the same time. And while he was doing that he needed to take a hot bath and curl up in a ball under the covers of his bed. He needed every form of comfort he had ever craved, because dying meant you never got to experience them again.

 _"Freeze!" A woman's voice yelled. "Let the boy go Gin."_

 _"FBI?" The silver haired man, Gin, questioned. He looked almost amused as he pulled Shinichi's body to his chest, holding him like a shield. A gun had appeared in his free hand and was aimed out into the darkness beyond Kaito's vision._

 _The sound of a pistol firing echoed in the alley as a sinister grin spread across Gin's face. Vodka was at his side, his own gun drawn. They weren't the ones who had pulled the trigger though._

At least that vision was a repeat. It only made Kaito stumble rather than fall to his knees. It was past time he left. Shinichi was dead. Kaito's visions wouldn't do him any more good. The thief dropped a smoke bomb as he bolted from the alley. He could only hope it wasn't too late for Conan.

Kaito barely made it out of sight, taking refuge in a dumpster as the fog of another vision clouded his mind.

 _Shinichi's body was lying on the ground a few feet from the flaming yellow car. Gin and Vodka were crouched beside it using it as a barrier as they exchanged gunfire with someone in the dark. It wasn't like the movies where the bad guys sprayed their opponents with machine gun fire. Each shot was deliberate, almost every one echoed by a sound of pain. The bad guys were winning._

 _A bullet ricocheted off a metal pipe tied to the building on the far side of the alley. It grazed across Shinichi's shoulder, pulling a silent scream from what should have been lifeless lips. His eyes were unfocused as he rolled his head to the side to inspect the damage._

 _Except that was wrong. Shinichi's eyes were closing again. His body had reacted to the pain, but the detective wasn't conscious._

 _Gin and Vodka kept firing into the darkness, not even sparing Shinichi a glance as a radio crackled. "Fall back!" The voice was pained, though if it was physical or if it was due to abandoning the fight, Kaito couldn't tell._

 _A smile filled Gin's face as the woman from before panted back into the radio. "We can't leave Kudo. We promised Cool Kid."_

Then Kaito was back in his own skin again. Covered in sweat and days old rubbish, but that hardly registered. Shinichi was alive. The relief that came with that knowledge seemed excessive for someone Kaito had never met, but the magician saw Conan in the teen. The sharp eyes, the knowing look, the brilliant mind that processed situations in seconds, not minutes or hours…

 _Shinichi was screaming wordlessly and Kaito was along for the ride. His body felt like it was burning, melting, dissolving. His heart pounded and the sensation of his blood pumping through his veins felt like physical blows. He was hot, impossibly hot, but shivers raced down his spine as muscle contractions racked his body. It was worse than dying. It was worse because Shinichi knew he would survive it. Again._

 _The world in Shinichi's eyes wavered, the images of Gin and Vodka above him coming in and out of focus. Then he was choking as the taste of cotton filled his mouth. The straightjacket he had been wearing had somehow come lose and Vodka pulled it tight again._

 _"Get him in the car." Gin directed, his cold eyes seeming to trace the contours of Shinichi's face._

 _Kaito felt himself being lifted. He felt too small, too light, and then he was falling, tossed effortlessly into the back seat of the black car. Shinichi glared halfheartedly at the men in black as they took their seats in the front. Then his vision faded to white._

When he came to again, Kaito was huddled under a cardboard box as he pressed himself into the corner of the dumpster. He was hugging himself, tears leaking from his eyes. His vision had changed when Shinichi lost consciousness. The scene was the same, but the perspective had changed.

 _Gin glanced over his shoulder at Conan. The boy was bound and gagged in the back seat, the blood from his shoulder wound coloring the once white straight jacket. "A one in ten million chance of survival and the first guy we feed the poison to makes it. And he not only survives, but the drug does what it's supposed to. No wonder Ano kata is giving that woman special treatment. If he can't have Pandora, he'll have to settle for his manmade Silver Bullet."_

Kaito had been right. Conan was gone. Missing. Taken. He had seen it in flashes of visions that sparked behind his eyelids. But he hadn't put much stock them. He hadn't known. He should have.

There wasn't anyone else who the visions could have been about. No one else had vibrant blue eyes that seemed to peer straight into Kaito's soul. No one else had a razor smirk that sent adrenaline pumping through the phantom thief's veins. It was always Conan. And Kaito hadn't realized until it was too late. Now all he had were snippets of visions and enough regrets to choke a horse.

-xoXox-

Shinichi stared at the ceiling. It was all he could really do as he lay bound to a table with restraints designed for his shrunken wrists. That and think.

Haibara Ai. Victim of her own poison. A scientist held captive by the Black Organization until she tried to take her own life. A woman on the run, only kept safe by hiding in her shrunken form. Only all of it was a lie.

Haibara Ai. Miyano Shiho. Sherry. She had known exactly what her odds of surviving APTX 4869 were. It was all a calculated risk. She had proposed the idea herself.

What better way to collect data on the Black Organization's newest drug than experimenting on their first human genie pig? They had always known Kudo Shinichi hadn't died. He was never going to catch them. Sherry had made sure of that, providing just enough information to keep Shinichi on the hook and looking in the wrong direction.

The worst part was that Shinichi never saw it coming. Not when he traded himself for Ai, promising her everything would be ok even as he kneeled at before Gin. Not when the straight jacket tightened around him and another unknown pill was forced down his throat. No. He didn't see it coming. Not until the drug induced haze faded and Shiho walked in the door, her full size lab coat embroidered with her code name across the breast pocket.

Shinichi had always known he was dancing with wolves. He just never realized Ai was still one of them.

-The End-

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 **A/N: I guess I was in a dark mood...**


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